The socialist movement, in a manner of
speaking, was a direct result of the Industrial Revolution that produced
a working and a middle class. The socialists challenged the expansion of capitalism
and the dominance of the middle class. One of the most famous, and influential,
critiques of capitalism appeared in a small pamphlet, The Communist Manifesto,
published in early 1848 by Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). These
two close collaborators made socialism a revolutionary
force, and at the same time, they developed perhaps
the most influential (maybe powerful) critique of contemporary capitalist society. Their work
inspired legions of revolutionaries to try and overthrow the capitalist order.

Marx and Engels were not the only individuals
to develop critiques of capitalism in the nineteenth century, nor were
they the only revolutionaries seeking to overthrow, or reform, "bourgeois"
democracy. Charles Dickens, with Hard Times, offered a bitter criticism of
industrialization, as did Emile Zola (1840-1902), the French novelist,
in such works as Germinal. As opposed to Marx, Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876),
the Russian revolutionary anarchist, devoted his life to inspiring a spontaneous
peasant uprising against modern society.

For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a
relevant website for this unit of the course.Send the title of the site, the url and a
brief explanation why you find the information interesting and applicable to
the material being studied in this unit.